A batch processing inrterface: allows researchers to run many jobs and schedules them in a fair way using the ARC software. It manages the cluster nodes.

10 nodes: these are machines where you will actually run your code. Currently they can be directly accessed, but in the future this will change. The batch processing interface will be the only entry point.

Each node has:

a simple name: nX, where X is the number of the node. i.e. n1 is node number 1.

16 cores

64GB of RAM

access to all folder served by the storage server. This means that a researcher will have her own home folder regardless of the node she's logging in.

the gateway was used for users to access the cluster, but now will be phased out or allocated for other purposes.

To access the cluster, you'll need an account on it.
Contact Florido Paganelli or Pico to get access.

Common files organization

Every node of the cluster can access the shared storage. All users can access the shared storage, but can only access areas assigned to the working groups they belong.
The shared storage is organized as follows:

Folder name

Folder location

Folder purpose

expected filesize

Description

Subfolders

users

/nfs/users

User homes

files smaller than 100MB each

This folder contains each user's private home folder. In this folder one should save his own code and eventually private data. Data that can also be used by others and the single files are bigger than 100MB should not be in this folder. Use the shared folder instead.

/<username> each user her own folder

/npguests/<username> for Nuclear Physics guests

/ppguests/<username> for Particle Physics guests

software

/nfs/software

Application software

files smaller than 100MB each

This folder hosts software that is not accessible via cvmfs (see later). This usually includes user/project specific libraries and frameworks.

/np for Nuclear Physics users

/pp for Particle Physics users

/tp for Theoretical Physics users

shared

/nfs/shared/

Data that will stay for long term

Any file, especially big ones

This folder should be used for long-term stored data. For example, data needed for the whole duration of a phd project or shared among people belonging to the same research group.

/np for Nuclear Physics users

/pp for Particle Physics users

/tp for Theoretical Physics users

scratch

/nfs/scratch/

Data that will stay for short term

Any file, especially big ones

This folder should be used for short-term stored data. For example, data needed for a week long calculation or temporary calculation. This folder should be considered unreliable as its contents will be purged from time to time. The cleanup interval is yet to be decided

/np for Nuclear Physics users

/pp for Particle Physics users

/tp for Theoretical Physics users

cvmfs

/cvmfs

Special folder containing CERN maintained software

user cannot write

This special folder is dedicated to software provided by CERN. This folder is read-only. Usually the content of this folder are managed via specific scripts that a user can run. If you need to add some software that you cannot find, contact the administrators.

/geant4.cern.ch for Nuclear Physics users

/atlas.cern.ch for Particle Physics users

nodestmp

/nodestmp

Contains the /slurmtmp folder of each node, where slurm writes job data.

Any size. The disk is limited to 270GB

Files used by your code that you want to be directly on the node. It is recommended to copy the files there as this will speedup the calculation.

nobackup_aurora

/nfs/nobackup_aurora

Contains the /projects/hep/fs2-hep/ folder of the storage connected to the Aurora cluster, to easily move data to and fro the two clusters. This machine can be used to transfer data to the cluster at a fast rate, check these instructions

Any size. Maximum available space for each Division is 18.3TB

Any file

/shared

/scratch

/software

User groups

Five main UNIX user groups are defined, as follows:

User group

Who belongs to it

Group hierarchy

npusers

Researchers belonging to Nuclear Physics

primary

npguests

Visitors belonging to Nuclear Physics

primary

ppusers

Researchers belonging to Particle Physics

primary

ppguests

Visitors belonging to Particle Physics

primary

tpusers

Researchers belonging to Theoretical Physics

primary

clusterusers

All users accessing the cluster

secondary for npusers, ppusers and tpusers

Group hierarchy tells how your files are created. Whenever you create a file, its default ownership will be: